


Lance Takes a Walk and Cleans His Room

by Ommlette



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 23:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10546206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ommlette/pseuds/Ommlette
Summary: A 5 hour break is a rare, precious thing when your job is to protect the entire universe.





	

“How much longer is it going to be?” Pidge whined. She leaned back in her chair and slid down until more than half her body dangled off of it. She looked like she was being melted by her own anger, which Lance found pretty funny. He chuckled to himself from his spot in the doorway, and Shiro huffed an amused little sigh, maybe thinking the same thing. Because he was right behind her, leaning on her seat, his breath blew a tuft of her hair up in the air. It stood there like a tiny devil horn. 

"Pidge, give him a break, he only just started." Shiro said. Pidge scowled and started bouncing her heels on and off the floor in response.

"Well, if he just let me run some--"

"No, No. No, no, no, no, no. Hold on there, Number Five!” Coran protested as he scooted out from under a huge machine cabinet (of some kind?) that he’d been fiddling with. He leapt up from the floor and wagged his finger right in her face. “That will just not be necessary! Not one bit!

"Now, you're a smart little bug, I'll be first to say it!" He started. Pidge glared at his finger, then glared at his face, and then went back to glaring at his finger, her eyes lingering there. Sheepishly and defensively, Coran slowly retracted his hand and hid it behind his back. He must have been scared she’d try to eat it in retaliation. Lance could see it happening pretty easily.

"In fact…” He continued with a slight waver in his voice, “you may be the smartest this side of the universe...or perhaps I should say YOUR side of the universe? Hm..." Pidge tried to intervene before Coran completely lost himself in the question.

"Then why won't you give me--"

“No!” He cut her off, sounding more urgent and angry than Lance could have ever expected. Pidge herself seemed pretty surprised by the outburst. She even sat up a little bit. There was a very worried moment of everyone staring at Coran, and Coran staring at them. 

"What I mean is, eehh…” Coran struggled to find the words he wanted to say.

“Is there something up, Coran?” Lance asked. It was only then he was noticed by everyone. Pidge careened her head just enough to probably see part of Lance’s head and squinted in his general direction, confused.

“Was he really that loud?” She asked. Before Lance could answer, Coran sighed, and sat on the floor in front of Pidge. He stared at her for a moment, physically trying to gather up the courage to speak. Lance tore his eyes off Coran to look at Shiro, hoping to share his confusion with somebody, but all he saw was a relieved, thoughtful expression on his face, and Lance couldn’t guess why it was there.

“Listen up, Pidge. You’re not…a machine.” Coran sputtered. Pidge nodded a couple times, trying her hardest to follow along.

“Yes. That’s correct, and I agree with you.” She encouraged him. 

“No matter how smart you are, no matter how up to the challenge you are, no matter how much free time you got, no matter how much you’re willing to bribe me, no matter how much you’re ready to suffer and/or kiss up to me, and help me track down a planet that does “rain”, and maybe help me reclaim the kitchen from hunk you will still be as you are.”

“Yes. A uh…not a machine. Not a robot!” Lance exclaimed. He clapped enthusiastically. “Not a cyborg! Like Shiro is!” Lance chuckled and buffed his fingernails against his jacket proudly, happy to have figured things out. “There’s a lesson to be learned here, Pidge, and it’s to be true to yourself… and to recycle.” 

“Shh-Shhh” Shiro quietly shushed him. “and I…I’m not a cyborg.”

“You are a tiny, pint-sized little beast—“

Pidged sighed. “Man, I know I’m short but do you have to be so preoccupied with it. I feel like that’s kind of—“

“The smallest and youngest paladin of Voltron…” Coran forged on with his speech, very bravely. “Who, above all the rest of us, needs proper rest, at least once in a batch of quintents!”

“Oh.” Lance frowned. He hadn’t figured anything out at all. 

Pidge blinked, and then blinked again, and then gurgled out a very testy sounding “Are you implying something?”

“When’s the last time you slept more than three hours?” Shiro calmly asked. Pidge sighed and rolled her head to the side.

“Mmmm…..Four days ago?”

“What about in your bed?” Coran added, leaning towards her with a very expectant glint in his eyes.

“Now that’s just not a reasonable thing to judge me on.” She groaned. “Beds are unnecessary.”

“psfffuh!” Lance scoffed, “Come tell me that again when we’re all 30 and you’re limping around in a walker becaus--”

“Hey…!” Pidge asserted with a little pout “I know how to take care of myself!” the distinct sounds of bones popping and cracking filled the room as she pulled herself up to sit properly in her chair. She glared in no particular direction, twitching in either pain or rage--Likely both. 

“Well, even if we go with that…” Coran jeered, getting up off the floor. “You’re still not getting anywhere near this.”

“But I feel fine! “ She insisted.

“That’s very good! But you can’t possibly know everything there is to know about this castles maintenance, and I’m afraid I’m only looking for lackeys who can get the job done without…er…dying.” Coran guessed. Pidge and lance where not impressed by this new tactic. Coran looked to Shiro for support, but Shiro only shrugged and motioned for him to sell it more.

“Dying TRAGICALLY…” He added, boring into Pidge’s exhausted, unamused eyes. “Never…to be seen again!” He wiggled his hands in the air to give it that final sprinkling of impact it needed.

“Coran. I can handle it. I can do it, and if you and me both do it, we’ll be done much quicker, and onto where we’re needed much faster.” 

“ I-I-It’s not a matter of speed! I was born to protect this castle you know, my own grandfather built it! I think I know a thing or two about what I’m talking about! Do you know how many-- many years it takes to learn and appreciate all the nuances and overtones and…and hang ups?? -- I guess? -- in this pocket realm of a machine?”

“IS THE CASTLE A POCKET DIMENSI—“ 

“No! No! No it is NOT!” He shut down Pidge and Lance before they could start. “But it might as well be! Listen, these maintenance tasks may be routine nonsense for ME, but for YOU it would be quite the task, I can assure you!” And with that Coran tipped his head up and turned away, crossing his arms with a bit of flourish to express just how done he was with this debate.

“Oh!” Pidge stood up and wailed. “All we’re doing is wasting time!”

Though his head was no longer facing Lance, he could make out the little frown that that earned her. Shiro gave her a sharp look and chided, “Coran knows what he’s doing, Pidge. Besides, all of us could use the break. It’s been a Hectic….uh…” Shiro squinted, trying to think. He turned to Lance with a shrug. “month?”

Lance shrugged right back. “I don’t know. It feels way more like three.”

Nobody spoke for a moment. Shiro and Lance both looked away from each other. The idea of being away from earth for more than a week was very distracting; it really got in the way of figuring out what to say next.

“Right, well…” Coran said, tipping carefully back into the conversation. “We’ll be back on our feet in no more than 5 Vargas! And you can set your tickers to that!” He gave everyone a wink and a thumbs up and then plopped back down to the floor and disappeared under the cabinet.

Pidge threw her head back dramatically. “Okay…Have it your way.” She grumbled. Shiro stepped around the chair and clasped her shoulder. Their eyes met.

“Don’t make me think about burger king.” He pleaded. Pidge tried to sigh at him, but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

“You know, I’ve been craving onion rings this entire time.” She lamented.

“Pidge…” Shiro warned. Pidge chuckled and lazily tilted back and forth out of the room.

As she passed Lance, he was startled by just how worn down she’d actually become. Of course he’d noticed that she wasn’t taking care of herself too, this wasn’t news to him, but with all the fighting and junk they’ve been doing lately he hadn’t taken the time to notice it had gotten bad enough for Coran to worry too. Her hair had gotten longer, which he hadn’t even realized until now because it matted together at the bottom and stuck to her jaw and neck. It looked like it hadn’t been brushed in close to a week. Her eyes were bloodshot and dark and puffy from exhaustion. Her lips where chapped and her skin looked dry and brittle. When was the last time she had any water? Probably the last time she picked up a comb. A pang of guilt hit his gut. He should have tried harder to get her to listen to him before she got this messed up. 

He was relieved to see Pidge waddle down the hallway to her bedroom, but she only looked at the door half a moment before making a U-turn and heading down another hall and out of sight.

“Pidge!” Lance whined desperately after her, but it was useless. She wasn’t going to come back.

Shiro poked his head out the door and glanced into the empty hallway.

“She didn’t go to sleep?” He asked, still looking at her bedroom door.

“No.” Lance pouted. ”I think she’s going to the lions. I mean, that’s the way she’s headed, anyway.”

Shiro sighed, “Maybe we should just let her be.” Lance gawked at him.

“Uh? Why?” he demanded in a shrill voice. “She looks sick! And- And she’s looked sick for days!”

“She’s worried about her brother and father. We’ve been in space a while and she’s probably getting anxious.” Shiro said, as if this was supposed to calm him. “She’s got a whole lot on her mind.” 

Lances frown deepened, and he looked to the floor. Then his eyes found their way back to Pidge’s bedroom door. He didn’t make that connection. Just how stupid was he? What else could it have been?

“You’re right; maybe we shouldn’t let her be…” Shiro said, drawing Lance’s gaze back to him. Shiro was staring into the hallway again, lost in his own worried train of thought. Lance stood up a little straighter, ready to take on the duty at hand.

“I can—“

“Don’t worry about it.” Shiro interrupted him immediately, smiling warmly at him. “I got it.”

“No—But I can really—“

“Lance, it’s okay. Really.” Shiro insisted with a little pat on Lance’s back. “Enjoy your break, you need one too you know. It’s not just Pidge who’s been working hard.”

Lance watched Shiro walk away, make a left and disappear from his view. He hung in the doorway like a lonely, stray dog. He felt as if he’d failed not only Pidge but also Shiro. He wanted Shiro to be able to depend on him. He wanted Shiro to trust him to be able to help.

“It’ll be fine, Lance, I’m sure of it.” Coran spoke up suddenly, crouching out from under the cabinet. “Pidge—She keeps getting very close, and then Matt just slips away.”

“I know,” Lance whined, he swayed back into the room and slowly sat down on the floor a foot or so from Coran. “I know… Why didn’t I realize that’s what was up?”

“Pidge doesn’t like talking about this stuff. She would throw anybody who tried to get her to talk about anything before she wanted to straight into space. ”

Lance chuckled, finding that to be very, very true. 

“Yeah, yeah you got that right.” Lance looked over at Coran. He was smiling sympathetically at him. Lance sighed.

“ I’ve been trying. I mean, like, I’ve really, really been trying. She just gets annoyed with me. I mean I tried to just hint that she needs more sleep with little jokes, so I wouldn't embarrass her or anything; I tried asking her if anything was on her mind; I tried to help her with her projects so she’d get done earlier and could sleep longer. All she does is push me out of her way. Like it’s like… she doesn’t even really respect me. No matter how I go about it, no matter how sincere I am, I’m just ‘Lance’ to her…”

Coran waited for Lance to finish. Lance pulled his jacket up closer to him. 

"I'm the fart jokes guy, you know? The stupid one, or the funny one or something. She won't even consider listening to me."

"Lance..." Coran sighed. He wiggled around so that he was next to the kid and could look him square in the eye. "Lance, Pidge doesn't think lowly of you."

"I don't think she hates me." Lance defended.

"She was so distraught why we were waiting for that blast you took for me to heal, back on planet Arus." Coran exclaimed. "Well… we all where-- but Pidge! She didn't know how to handle it. She's a tough cookie, for sure, but waiting for you to get better made her crazy. She demanded Allura and I teach her about the pods, and to check on your vitals-- which we don't even really need to do-- and this and that, and this and that. She couldn't figure out what to do with herself to get rid of her worries. And you know Pidge, she needs things to do! It was hard to tell who was going to go insane first, Pidge or Keith. "

Lance needed a moment to process this, and Coran happily gave him one. When he had gotten out, she was happy, sure; but she was so casual about the whole thing. She wasn’t crying and hanging over him about it the way Hunk was. He never thought he could affect her like that.

"Wait. Keith was going insane over me?" Lance questioned.

"Why is that a surprise? Keith’s not exactly the most emotionally stable of the team, you know. “Coran bemused.

"I...huh." was all Lance could say in response. "I can't picture it."

"Well of course you can't." Coran teased. “What with how obsessed you are with your weird ego game you have with him.”

“It’s not an “ego game”, it’s a ri-val-ry.” Lance hissed. “And it’s not weird!”

“It’s a little weird, Lance.” Coran said.

“What!? No it isn’t! How is it weird? You’re weird! You’re a weird, weird man, Coran.“ 

“We’re getting off topic…“ Coran mumbled, rubbing his temple.

“I worked really hard at the Garrison, and I was always compared to that guy! To a guy who didn’t even want it-- Who bailed out of it! Him and his stupid mullet and his stupid nasty outfits and his stupid innate talent had everyone wrapped around his stupid gloved finger—Oh wait, I’m sorry! Excuse me! NOT his GLOVED finger! Because he wears fingerless gloves because he’s REALLY COOL! I’m talented too! I’m just as talented as him—“

"And-- And when we were all separated!" Coran exclaimed as he shook lance a couple hundred times to shut him up. "From that disaster with the wormhole?"

"………..Yes, I haven't forgotten." Lance grumbled, not happy to have been silenced.

"Well, as we were working to signal in on your lions coordinates, she wouldn't stop rambling on and on about you and Hunk the entire time we worked to find you two. This isn’t normally what she likes to ramble about, mind you, so I actually listened.”

“What did she talk about?”

“Well, she mentioned something about a debate she had with Hunk... about… ”smacked down”, I think it was? It was something about a brave warrior and a poetic betrayal done to him by a snake charmer. It was fascinating! But confusing. And there was also all those times you tried to get her to leave her bunk, 4 vargas too soon, so that she could go bowling! Now, she described this “bowling” to me and I don’t believe it’s worth losing so much sleep over, Lance.” 

“Coran.” Lance whined.

“Right, right, I appear to have gone a little off topic. Well, my big point is that she gravitated to these silly anecdotes about you two to ground her, because she missed you. She kept coming back to how many times you took the fall for her, and how she was never as grateful as she should have been for it. And if she wasn’t lamenting on about that she was fighting Allura for more “accurate” information on Shiro’s recovery, whatever that meant. It was… It was a stressful day!” Coran chuckled.

“…Did that really happen?” Lance asked quietly. His heart swelled inside his chest, he was so touched.

“I may be weird, but I’m no liar.” Coran assured him.

"That’s, wow, that’s really nice...” He said with a loving, glowing smile. “but, uh, it doesn't mean she sees me as an equal."

"heheh, you're right!" Coran barked out through a laugh. He stood up and dusted off his pants. “I can’t prove to you that she respects you the way you want her too, only she can do that. But what I’m trying to let you know is that she cares about you, Lance. Don’t doubt your place in her life; you’re dear to her for sure. If you want more respect, she’ll hear you out if you say so.”

“Thanks, Coran.” Lance said. He really meant it too, he felt lighter having heard all of this. Coran didn’t know Pidge the way Lance knew Pidge, though; she could do many things, she was amazing in many ways, but she wasn’t going to give respect where respect wasn’t due.

“Now go, I don’t know, ‘kick back with a space juice’ or whatever it is you do. I have dangerous maintenance tasks to run.” Coran said. He patted Lance’s head, which surprisingly Lance did not mind, then plopped back under the cabinet to work.

“Alright, yes! Totally!” Lance said. “Oh man, Hunk’s gonna be so psyched. 5 Vargas! Can you make it 8?”

“Nope!” Coran’s voice rang out from under the machine.

“7?” 

“Nope!”

“6…?” Lance leaned a little closer to the cabinet. “Huh? Come on Cora—“

“Nope!”

“Alright! 5 vargas!” Lance fist bumped emphatically as he zipped out of the room, “that’s just enough time to tear this scene up!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!


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